The wrong reasons
by public static void
Summary: Albus Dumbledore firmly believes love can overcome all difficulties, even if the love comes from all the wrong reasons.


For the OTP Swap #3 (Gellert/Albus for Sophy).

Sophy, sorry it took me so long to write this. I had plenty ideas but none worked and at the end, this came along and here it is.

Also for the Ultimate Patronus Quest Challenge (Phoenix: Write about someone who has been given a second chance). I started this having in mind that Gellert would give Albus a second chance, but maybe Albus gave it to Gellert.

* * *

 _"Sometimes, we fall in love with someone for all the wrong reasons, and still love them after all the hurt they caused us. Even though we know we shouldn't love them, we do and always will because there are just a small number of people in this entire world who will "get" us for the reasons we can't explain."_

 _._

.

.

Albus is on his knees. Inside him desperation rampages but he doesn't let it show. His calm eyes are defiant still, but the solemnity in his features is enough to show Gellert he has won.

"Will you kill me, _Gellert_?" Albus asks. Though he tries to be hard and ironic, his voice betrays the wound in his heart. The feeling of being invincible is obliterated by Gellert and the string of spells shot his way before Albus can react. When he finally does, Gellert's victory is already in the air.

"I can't," his response doesn't shock Albus, but the pain that comes through his voice does. "Perhaps you already forgot our promise, Albus, but I haven't. You will be mine and I will be yours, and death can't stop that."

Albus remembers the promise as a youth mistake. "If death can't stop that, why won't you let it have me?"

"I kept hoping you would come back to your senses, Albus," Gellert recalled, helping Albus sit down and doing the same in front of him. Albus thought it a funny scene –the pair of them sitting in a desolated place with scorch marks on the ground and the moon bathing them with silver light. "When I finally accepted you wouldn't, I made it my purpose to get you back."

"Sadly, you managed it," Albus tells him. He can see the madness in Gellert as his lips quiver and his hand grips his wand a little too tight. He's still high from the sensations of their duel. "And I'm here, disarmed and weak. You could kill me."

Albus hopes Gellert does. At the end, the humiliation of losing against him is the last straw. He lowers his sight and stares at the ground. His father's shame, his mother's abuse, his sister's death...

"I hope you can forgive me for this, Albus," Gellert says firmly. Albus' heart speeds up, awaiting the moment when it will rest and fall still. "But I won't kill you."

Albus is shocked. He lost. He _should_ be killed. That had been the plan: to win and become the greatest wizard or to lose and die a martyr.

Gellert smiles evilly. "Did you think I would kill you, Albus?" his controlled voice turns dark as his eyes narrow and he leans towards Albus. The tip of his wand, different from the one he had before, glows white and gold. "You are my soulmate, Albus. Don't deny it. You feel it as well."

Albus says nothing. He tries to find the will to fight again, hoping to change the outcome or at least prove to himself that he isn't weak. His wandless magic, though, doesn't come to his aide.

"Don't exert yourself, Albus. You're weak right now," Gellert tells him. He is right, and as the seconds pass Albus feels his strength leaving him. Gellert, though, looks fresh. Albus thinks that maybe Gellert went ahead and did one of the rituals they researched during their youth. He pales, thinking about everything he is finding out about the man in front of him.

"Do you think this will be enough, Gellert?" Albus asks trying to conjure the image of wise wizard and old, faithful friend. Gellert will not be fooled easily, but Albus has to try. "No one in Britain will let you rule and in Europe, you will find even more opposition."

Gellert's laughter freezes Albus' blood.

"My dear Albus, I already won," the certainty of his words doesn't go unnoticed by Albus, but he knows of Gellert's arrogance. That will be his friend's death, and Albus hopes to be there with him to save him –to help him redeem himself. "I always told you two wizards could do it. I showed you my plans for the world and how to minds –two wands, could achieve the greater good."

"I will not help you, Gellert," painfully, the words come out of Albus' lips. He wants to stop Gellert from the chaos rollercoaster he's riding, yet Gellert is firmly gripping that strange wand that muted Albus' power as if it were nothing. A suspicion arises in his mind, but the thought of it is unbelievable and frankly mad. "I made myself clear enough already."

"And you complain of _my_ arrogance, my friend," Gellert mocks, shaking his head. Only then Albus notices the smirking man standing at his right, pale under the moonlight. "I think you know this admirable young man who wants to help me rebuild our world."

"Good night, Professor," the man says and Albus closes his eyes. He thinks of all those moments he naively ignored. Riddle's subtle smirk when reading the news of Gellert's accomplishments, the laughter in Gellert's eyes when he asked if Albus had come alone... His arrogance, once again, makes him pay a higher price.

"Could I kill him, Master?" Riddle asks; the subservience in him frightens Albus more than anything. He knows Riddle, and he knows that voice; Albus fears, then, for his friend's life.

"He won't be killed, Tom," Gellert explains patiently, standing up and leaving Albus on the ground. The symbolism of his defeat –the humilliation– is clear. "I will keep him. He is, after all, my dearest _friend_."

There are feelings hiding in those words. Albus notices them and he wonders if Riddle know. He can't let Riddle win.

"Gellert," he says, looking up in hopes of catching his friend's eyes. If the man looks inside his mind, he will see what Albus fears. He will see and hear Riddle before, speaking with that charming voice and later striking like a deadly serpent. Gellert doesn't look inside his mind, and the dwindling hope vanishes. "Please."

He has used that pleading voice before, hating himself each time. Begging is underneath him.

"Gellert, I will help you!" he exclaims, the surprise of his own voice reaching him and Gellert at the same time.

Tom Riddle, though, only smirks.

"Will you? Prove it" Gellert asks. Albus can see Gellert doesn't believe him and somehow he has to prove it to him. Then comes a memory of fire wrapping a wardrobe and Riddle's eyes meet him.

"Do I have to? You know me, Gellert. You know how I – _feel_."

Affection marks Gellert's features with doubt. His grip over the wands –Albus' and the one he suspects is a Hallow– relinquishes.

"Should I leave you alone, Master?" Riddle mocks and in that moment Gellert's face hardens again.

"There is no need. If Albus wants to follow me, what else is there to be said? Stand up, Albus, and then _bow_."

He doesn't want to do it. Albus swallows, seeking another way to prove the fake loyalty.

 _Oh, but I am truly loyal. To you, Gellert, not to the greater good._

"Do you need help, Professor?" Riddle asks. Albus can hear the smirk on his lips and he hates the man. " _I_ needed help once, Professor Dumbledore, and you didn't help me. Do you want to know how that feels?"

"Control yourself, Tom," Gellert reprehends his student. "He is _mine_. You will respect him, and if you can't then you will fake it until it becomes second nature."

Fake it. Albus can do that. He stumbles but stands up and straightens himself as much as he can. He isn't hurt as much as he is exhausted, and Riddle's menacing magic is causing him a migraine. But he can do it. He _will_ do it to protect Gellert from a certain death at the wand of the man who is now by his side. With his pride burning, Albus bows.

Laughter blossoms in Gellert's chest and he lets it echo all around them. Riddle sports a twisted smile and hesitant eyes. They share a glance and Albus hopes the young man understands it.

 _As long as I live, I will protect Gellert from you._


End file.
